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tiff

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Tiff and TIFF

English

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WOTD – 22 October 2025

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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The origin of the noun is unknown; it is possibly originally dialectal[1][2] and may be onomatopoeic, representing the sound of a small puff of air or gas.[3] The verb is derived from the noun.[4]

Noun

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tiff (plural tiffs) (informal)

  1. A (generally small) argument or disagreement; a petty quarrel, a spat.
    Synonyms: (UK, dialectal, especially Scotland, dated) tift, miff
    • 1753 (indicated as 1754), [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XV. Lady G[randison] to Miss Byron.”, in The History of Sir Charles Grandison. […], volume IV, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by C. Hitch and L. Hawes, […], →OCLC, page 94:
      My Lord and I have had another little—Tiff, ſhall I call it? It came not up to a quarrel. Married people vvould have enough to do, if they vvere to trouble their friends every time they miſunderſtood one another.
    • 1839 May – 1840 February, Ikey Solomons, Jun. [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “Catherine: A Story. Chapter the Last.”, in Catherine: A Story. Little Travels. The Fitz-Boodle Papers. etc. etc. (Works of William Makepeace Thackeray in Twenty-four Volumes; 22), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1869, →OCLC, page 157:
      There's Tom, now, since this tiff with Mrs. Cat, the scoundrel plays the Grand Turk here!
    • 1868, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, “Meg goes to Vanity Fair”, in Little Women: […], 1st part, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, published 1869, →OCLC, page 139:
      [T]he blithe young couple were a pleasant sight to see, as they twirled merrily round and round, feeling more friendly than ever after their small tiff.
    • 1997, Haruki Murakami, “Full Moon and Eclipse of the Sun: On Horses Dying in the Stables”, in Jay Rubin, transl., The Wind-up Bird Chronicle […], London: Harvill Secker, published 2010, →ISBN, page 30:
      I had lived with her all this time, unaware how much she hated these things. In themselves they were trivial. Stupid. Something to laugh off, not make a big issue out of. We'd had a little tiff and would have forgotten about it in a couple of days.
    • 2000 September 29, Guy Browning, “How to … have a tiff”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2 September 2025:
      Lovers' tiffs are very amusing in that new lovers expect their little universe to be 100% perfect. […] At the other extreme, couples who are married with children have heavily disguised tiffs. A man saying in a slightly strained way, 'I'm going to turn the compost', is actually saying, 'And that's all you are, Jean, compost!' Of course, what happens is eventually he apologises, they cry, make love, have another child, get overtired and the tiffing continues.
    • 2013 June 18, Alexandra Topping, Ben Quinn, quoting Charles Saatchi, “Charles Saatchi: accepting police caution was better than the alternative”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎[2], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 March 2024:
      "About a week ago we were sitting outside a restaurant having an intense debate about the children, and I held Nigella [Lawson]'s neck repeatedly while attempting to emphasise my point," he said. "There was no grip, it was a playful tiff. The pictures are horrific but give a far more drastic and violent impression of what took place. […]"
    • 2024 December 10, Ronald Mann, “Case Preview: Federal Trademark Law and Doctrines of Corporate Identity”, in SCOTUSblog‎[3], archived from the original on 19 June 2025:
      These were the days before Elon Musk's tiff with a Delaware judge raised the prospect of the federalization of corporate law.
  2. (archaic) A brief outburst or period of bad temper; a snit; also (rare) any brief outburst (for example, of laughter).
    • 1739, Friderick Dedekindus [i.e., Friedrich Dedekind], chapter I, in Roger Bull [pseudonym], transl., Grobianus; or, The Compleat Booby. An Ironical Poem. […], London: […] T. Cooper, […], →OCLC, 2nd book, page 102:
      [A]s if / Returning homevvards in a furious Tiff; / Your Hoſt declares, he's ſorry at his Heart, / And humbly acts the penitential Part.
    • 1858, Thomas Carlyle, “England Sends the Excellency Hotham to Berlin”, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book VII, pages 148–149:
      Wilhelmina […] answered his romances and him with tiffs of laughter, in a prettily fleeting manner.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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tiff (third-person singular simple present tiffs, present participle tiffing, simple past and past participle tiffed)

  1. (intransitive, informal) To be involved in a (generally small) argument or disagreement; to squabble.
    Synonyms: spat, (UK, dialectal, especially Scotland, dated) tift; see also Thesaurus:squabble
    • 1846, Walter Savage Landor, “[Miscellaneous.] [Poem] CCXLII. New Style.”, in The Works of Walter Savage Landor. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 660, column 2:
      I very much indeed approve / Of maidens moderating love / Until they've twenty pounds; / […] / Until the twenty pounds were safe, / She tiff'd at Tim, she ran from Ralph, / Squire nodded … deuce a curtsy!
    • 1859, Francis Francis, “Music, Lights, and Ladies”, in Newton Dogvane. A Story of English Country Life. […], volume I, London: Hurst and Blackett, publishers, successors to Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 129:
      Poor Newton! he little knew to what he owed that glance. The fact is, the Captain was late, and Miss Bowers tiffed.
Translations
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Etymology 2

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See TIFF.

Noun

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tiff (plural tiffs)

  1. (computer graphics file format) Alternative letter-case form of TIFF (acronym of tagged image file format).

Etymology 3

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Probably a back-formation from or clipping of tiff(in) (“(light) midday meal or snack, luncheon”).[5]

Verb

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tiff (third-person singular simple present tiffs, present participle tiffing, simple past and past participle tiffed)

  1. (intransitive, British India) Synonym of tiffin (“to eat a (light) midday meal or snack; to have lunch, to lunch”).
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Translations
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Etymology 4

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The origin of the noun is unknown; it may be onomatopoeic,[6] representing the sound of liquor being sipped. The verb is derived from the noun.[7]

Noun

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tiff (countable and uncountable, plural tiffs) (informal or slang, archaic or obsolete)

  1. (countable) A small draught or sip of liquor (especially diluted or poor quality liquor) or punch.
    Synonyms: (UK, dialectal, especially Scotland) tift, (obsolete) whiff
  2. (uncountable) Liquor, especially diluted or poor quality liquor.
    Synonym: (UK, dialectal, especially Scotland) tift
    • 1823, [Walter Scott], “Introduction”, in Quentin Durward. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page xiii:
      By dint of drinking acid tiff, as above mentioned, and smoking segars, in which I am no novice, my Public are to be informed, that I gradually drank and smoked myself into a certain degree of acquaintance with un homme comme il faut [a proper man], one of the few fine old specimens of nobility who are still to be found in France; […]
Derived terms
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  • tift (UK, dialectal, especially Scotland)
Translations
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Verb

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tiff (third-person singular simple present tiffs, present participle tiffing, simple past and past participle tiffed)

  1. (transitive, informal or slang, archaic or obsolete) To drink (liquor), especially slowly or in small amounts; to sip.
    • 1821, [William Combe], “Canto XXXVII”, in The Third Tour of Doctor Syntax, in Search of a Wife, a Poem, London: R[udolph] Ackermann’s Repository of Arts, […], →OCLC, page 244:
      Nor did the Doctor fail to go / To the bright region of the Row; / There tiff'd his punch and talk'd and smok'd, / Was sometimes grave and sometimes jok'd; […]
Derived terms
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  • tift (UK, dialectal, especially Scotland)
Translations
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Etymology 5

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From Middle English tiffen, tif, tiffe (“to adorn, dress up; to arrange (a hairstyle); to disguise”),[8] from Old French tifer, tiffer (“to adorn, dress up”) (modern French attifer (“to deck out”)),[9] from Frankish *tipfōn, *tippōn (“to decorate”), possibly related to Proto-Germanic *tuppaz (“plait of hair, tuft; summit, top”) (see the further etymology at that entry).

The noun is derived from the verb.[10]

cognates

Verb

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tiff (third-person singular simple present tiffs, present participle tiffing, simple past and past participle tiffed) (chiefly informal, obsolete)

  1. (transitive, reflexive) To deck out or dress (someone or oneself, or their body or hair).
    • 1763, Edward Search [pseudonym; Abraham Tucker], “Freewill, Foreknowledge, and Fate. A Fragment.”, in [The Light of Nature Pursued], London: […] R[obert] and James Dodsley, […], →OCLC, §. 21, page 98:
      Is the Miſs under a force vvhen ſhe culls among her trinkets vvith curious toil to tiff herſelf out in the most engaging manner, or teazes pappa for money to buy a nevv-faſhioned ſilk?
  2. (intransitive) To deck out or dress one's body or hair.
Derived terms
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  • tiffing (noun)
  • tiffle (“to act aimlessly, idly, or frivolously, to fiddle, trifle”) (obsolete except UK, dialectal)

Noun

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tiff (plural tiffs)

  1. (obsolete, rare) The way in which one's body or hair is decked out or dressed.
    (way one’s body is dressed): Synonyms: (chiefly US, informal) getup, outfit

References

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  1. ^ “tiff1, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ Joseph Wright, editor (1905), “TIFF, sb.1 and v.1”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume VI (T–Z, Supplement, Bibliography and Grammar), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 140, column 2.
  3. ^ “tiff, n.3”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2025.
  4. ^ “tiff, v.3”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2023.
  5. ^ “tiff, v.4”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2024.
  6. ^ “tiff, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  7. ^ “tiff, v.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2023.
  8. ^ “tiffen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  9. ^ “tiff, v.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2024.
  10. ^ “tiff, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Nigerian Pidgin

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Etymology

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From English thief.

Noun

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tiff

  1. thief

Verb

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tiff

  1. to steal
    • 2024 January 11, Tamara Ebiwei, “'Dem tiff my pikin three hours afta I born am for hospital'”, in BBC News Pidgin‎[4], archived from the original on 10 February 2024:
      Dis hospital na one of di biggest hospitals for Lafia, wey get beta security. But one unknown woman allegedly tiff Mrs Wosilat Suleiman pikin.
      This hospital is one of the largest hospitals in Lafia, with good security. However, an unknown woman allegedly stole Mrs. Wosilat Suleiman's child.
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